Oracle’s AI spending spree is arriving with pink slips

Oracle’s AI spending spree is arriving with pink slips
Oracle’s new U.S. layoff round began Monday, according to people affected and an internal notification reviewed by Business Insider. The move follows earlier cuts that reduced the company’s workforce by 21,000 people, or 13%, in the fiscal year ended May 31; Oracle had roughly 141,000 employees before this latest round.

The timing sharpens the contrast at the center of Oracle’s strategy. The company is cutting jobs to reduce payroll while taking on tens of billions of dollars in debt to build AI data centers. First-quarter capital expenditures reached $28.5 billion, versus $8.5 billion a year earlier, and Oracle has held to a fiscal-2027 spending forecast of $90 billion to $95 billion. Wall Street, however, remains unconvinced that the investment will pay off, despite signs of cloud growth.

For employees, the news arrived in blunt terms. “After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change,” the layoff email said. “As a result, today is your last working day.”

The separation terms add another point of tension. Documents reviewed by Business Insider say recently laid-off U.S. employees are being offered four weeks of severance, plus one additional week for each year of service. Oracle’s standard plan, previously reported by the publication, capped the payout at 26 weeks of base salary.

That is less generous than the comparison offered by major peers: Salesforce’s standard policy can reach 30 weeks, while Microsoft offered up to 39 weeks of base pay in its latest summer layoffs. Oracle did not respond to requests for comment. The company’s wager is that AI infrastructure will secure its next growth phase; for affected workers, the immediate reality is a terminated role and a severance clock.

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